Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can cause serious complications during pregnancy.

Pregnant women with a STD may infect their baby before, during, or after the baby’s birth. Pregnant women are usually screened for most STDs at the first prenatal visit.

However if you have sex with someone who is affected, after your initial screening, you will need to be tested again. A pregnant woman is at the same risk for getting an STD as a woman who’s not pregnant.

STDs include:

• Chlamydia
• Genital herpes
• Gonorrhea
• Hepatitis B
• HIV/AIDS
• HPV/Genital warts
• Syphilis

Some STDs when left untreated in pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, miscarriages, severe birth defects etc.

One expert, Joseph Obande, a neurosurgeon at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada this week advised women of child bearing age to ensure proper treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) to avoid having babies with neural tube defects.

According to Obande, having unprotected sex and poorly treated sexually transmitted diseases could lead to congenital defects in babies.

“This is why we say women should live healthy lives so that they do not have these kinds of illnesses and then transmit it to their unborn children,” he said.

 Read more about STDs and their prevention here.